Mouzavires v. Baxter

• Citation: 434 A.2d 988
• Decision Date: 05 August 1981
• Docket Number: No. 11697.,No. 11696.,11696.,11697.
• Parties: William E. MOUZAVIRES, Appellant, v. Harvey BAXTER, et al., Appellees. Harvey BAXTER, et al., Appellants, v. William E. MOUZAVIRES, Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Columbia District

Page 988

434 A.2d 988

William E. MOUZAVIRES, Appellant, v. Harvey BAXTER, et al., Appellees.

Harvey BAXTER, et al., Appellants, v. William E. MOUZAVIRES, Appellee.

No. 11696.

No. 11697.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued En Banc April 28, 1980.

Decided August 5, 1981.

William R. Voltz, Washington, D. C., for appellant in No. 11696 and appellee in No. 11697.

Richard W. Boone, Washington, D. C., for appellees in No. 11696 and appellants in No. 11697.

Before NEWMAN, Chief Judge, and KELLY, KERN, GALLAGHER,^* NEBEKER, HARRIS, MACK, FERREN, and PRYOR, Associate Judges.

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal from an order entered by the trial court granting the motion of appellees Baxter, et al. (hereinafter appellees) to quash service of process on the ground that the court could not permissibly exercise personal jurisdiction over appellees.¹ Appellant contends that the trial court erred in granting appellees' motion to quash service since appellees had sufficient contacts with the District of Columbia as to fall within D.C.Code 1973, § 13-423, the District of Columbia long-arm statute.

In Part I of this opinion we set forth the pertinent facts. In Part II we address the issue of whether the "transacting any business" provision, § 13-423(a)(1), of the District's long-arm statute is coextensive with the due process clause of the United States Constitution. Concluding that it is, we then, in Part III, analyze whether appellant has alleged sufficient facts to support jurisdiction over appellees. We conclude that he has and, accordingly, reverse and remand.²

I

Appellant is a District of Columbia attorney who specializes in the practice of trademark and patent law. Appellees are a North Miami Beach, Florida, law firm and its individual partners. Sometime in May 1974, appellee Lawrence B. Friedman telephoned appellant in the District of Columbia, requesting him to assist Mr. Friedman and his law firm with a lawsuit that had been filed against a client of Mr. Friedman's law firm in the federal district court in Florida. The Florida suit involved claims that appellees' client was guilty of, inter alia, trademark infringements and unfair competition. In this telephone conversation, Mr. Friedman stated that his law firm lacked technical expertise in patent and trademark law, and that they needed appellant's assistance. Mr. Friedman indicated, however, that his law firm would remain active in the case with appellant assisting them.

During this telephone call, appellant agreed to work with appellees and the parties confirmed that agreement in subsequent discussions and correspondence which generally set forth appellant's duties and compensation.³ According to the agreement, appellant was to work primarily in the District of Columbia with some consultation and possibly some court appearances in Florida. Pursuant to that agreement appellant performed considerable work for appellees, most of the work being performed in the District of Columbia and, to a lesser extent, at the United States Patent Office facilities in Virginia. Appellant's services included the preparation of interrogatories, legal memoranda, and other matters in connection with discovery in the pending litigation.

A dispute arose as to the amount of compensation appellant was to receive for his services. Thereafter appellant brought suit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia seeking recovery of fees for the legal services rendered. Appellees were served by certified mail at their place of business in North Miami Beach, Florida. Appellees moved to quash service of process, contending that the Superior Court could not permissibly exercise personal jurisdiction over them. The trial court granted the motion to quash service without opinion, and this appeal followed.

A court may assert personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant where service of process is authorized by statute and where the service of process so authorized is consistent with due process. International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945). The District of Columbia "long-arm statute" enumerates the various acts of a nonresident defendant which support the assertion of personal jurisdiction.⁴ We have held that this statute permits the exercise of personal jurisdiction to the fullest extent permissible under the due process clause. See Berwyn Fuel, Inc. v. Hogan, D.C.App., 399 A.2d 79, 80 (1979); Rose v. Silver, D.C. App., 394 A.2d 1368, 1369 (1978); Cohane v. Arpeja-California, Inc., D.C.App., 385 A.2d 153, 158, cert. denied, 439 U.S. 980, 99 S.Ct. 567, 58 L.Ed.2d 651 (1978); Environmental Research International, Inc. v. Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc., D.C.App., 355 A.2d 808, 810-11 (1976) (en banc). We based this conclusion on the legislative history of the District's long-arm statute which indicated that Congress intended to vest courts of the District with jurisdictional reach identical to that in effect in Maryland and substantially the same as that in effect in Virginia. See S.Rep.No.405, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 35 (1969); H.R.Rep.No.907, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 61 (1970). Since the courts of Maryland and Virginia have interpreted their statutes as being coextensive with the due process clause, we concluded that our statute similarly contemplates the exercise of personal jurisdiction to the fullest extent permissible under the due process clause. However, the Maryland courts have observed that, while their long-arm statute supports an exercise of personal jurisdiction over all nonresident individuals and corporations that can constitutionally be reached, that proposition does not hold for each of the separate provisions of the long-arm statute. As the United States District Court for the District of Maryland stated in Piracci v. New York City Retirement System, 321 F.Supp. 1067, 1070 n. 3 (D.Md.1971):

If we consider the outer limits of jurisdiction permitted by the Due Process Clause as the circumference of a circle or the outer edge of a pie, and the six "enumerated acts" in § 96(aX1)-(6) [Maryland's long-arm statute] as six slices of the pie it appears that some slices go all the way to the outer limit of the circle, while others stop short of the outer limit.

To be sure, Maryland courts have interpreted the "transacting any business" provision of their long-arm statute as being coextensive with the due process clause, while they have interpreted several other provisions as having a much narrower scope. Compare Groom v. Margulies, 257 Md. 691, 265 A.2d 249 (1970) (construing "transacting any business" provision) with Beaty v. M. S. Steel Co., 401 F.2d 157, 161 (4th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1049 [89 S.Ct. 686, 21 L.Ed.2d 691] (1969) (construing the Maryland equivalent of our § 13-423(a)(4), the "causing tortious injury" provision); Vitro Electronics v. Milgray Electronics, Inc., 255 Md. 498, 258 A.2d 749 (1969) (same). See Margoles v. Johns, 157 U.S.App.D.C. 209, 218, 483 F.2d 1212, 1221 (1973); Piracci v. New York City Retirement System, supra at 1070.

Our concern in this case (as was true in Berwyn Fuel, Rose, Cohane, and Lockwood Greene) is not with the limits of other sections of the District's long-arm statute, but solely with the scope of the "transacting any business" provision. Again, the legislative history of the statute is illuminating. The relevant portion of the Senate Report accompanying the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970 states as follows:

A new chapter (4) is added, incorporating a modified version of the first two articles of the Uniform Interstate and International Procedure Act. The uniform provisions codify recent case law with respect to extraterritorial jurisdiction over and service upon persons in civil litigation, and supply the reorganized trial bench of general jurisdiction with a necessary procedural adjunct. Chapter 4 more specifically grants expanded bases of jurisdiction and modes of service identical to or reciprocal with those provided under the laws of the nearby State of Maryland for the courts of that State, and substantially the same as those provided in the adjacent State of Virginia and approximately 10 other States. [S.Rep.No.405, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 35 (1969).]

Moreover, the House Report accompanying the Court Reform Act states that our statute "is modeled on the Uniform Interstate and International Procedure Act. . . ." See H.R.Rep.No.907, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 61 (1970).⁵ The Commissioner's Comment, filed with the Uniform Act, states that the words "transacting any business" should be given an expansive interpretation. See Commissioner's Comment, § 1.03(aX1) of the Uniform Act, 13 Uniform Laws Ann. 467 (1980). Thus, the legislative history of our long-arm statute, as well as decisions by the courts of Maryland and Virginia construing their comparable statutory provisions, compels the conclusion that the "transacting any business" provision is coextensive with the due process clause. See Margoles v. Johns, supra 157 U.S.App. D.C. at 215, 483 F.2d at 1218; Meyers v. Smith, 460 F.Supp. 621, 622 (D.D.C.1978); John G. Kolbe, Inc. v. Chromodern Chair Co., 211 Va. 736, 180 S.E.2d 664 (1971).

Normally, our analysis would require a two-step process. First we would address the question of whether appellant had alleged sufficient facts to reach appellees under the terms of the applicable District statute. Only then, if the answer to our first inquiry was in the affirmative, would we address the due process issue. However, "[o]ur inquiry need not be bifurcated [where] the constitutional and statutory provisions are coextensive. . . ." Textile Museum v. F. Eberstadt & Co., 440 F.Supp. 30, 31 (D.D.C.1977); see World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 290, 100 S.Ct. 559, 563, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980) ("Although the [Supreme Court of Oklahoma] noted that the proper approach was to test jurisdiction against both statutory and constitutional...